Dropout rates in higher education (HE) are particularly high for non-traditional students which may be due to unadjusted educational policies. Considering as non-traditional the students who are employed at the enrolment moment and using a longitudinal database containing information on 5351 students from a Portuguese HE institution, an event…

Given the challenging transition from secondary school into higher education, this quasi-experimental study measured the effects of a pre-academic programme (i.e. before starting at university) on student-faculty interactions, student-peer interactions, sense of belonging, and first-year academic performance. Fifty-eight first-year students…

Central in this study is the role of student variables and the fit between secondary education and university education in the explanation of first-year student achievement. The fit between two levels of education can be defined in different ways. In this study the focus is on four fit-aspects: appropriateness of expectations, and the degree to…